Steam finisher



Oct. 14, 1930. 6:. H. BOYULS 1,778,059

STEAM FINISHER Original Filed July 5, 192a 3Sheets-Sheet 1 1% INVENTOR.

BY Zz/Mzg Oct. 14, 1930. I c, o u s 1,778,059

(STEAM FINISHER Original Filed July 5, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill/llATTORNEY Oct. 14, 1930. c. H. BOYULS 1,778,059

STEAM FINISHER Original Filed July 5, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.afl aaguzs BY 47 1/60 l ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 14, 1930 1 7 1 UNITE-DSTATES PATENT" OFF-ICE cEoIL H. BoYULs, or LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY STEAMFINISHER T-Application filed July 5, 1928, Serial No. 290,617. RenewedAugust '97, 1930. V

' This invention relates to laundry machin-' cry and has specialreference to an ironing machine of the type known as a finisher. 4

More particularly the invention relates to 5' a steam heated ironingfinisher.

In the ironing of clothes it frequently occurs that the mangle orpressing machine does not properly iron and dry all parts and some spotsare left damp and perhaps wrinkled.

Heretofore ithas been customary to iron such places with an ordinaryhand iron or fiat iron. This necessarily is a slow and expensive processand moreover requires'the use ofconsiderable strength. i p 7 Oneimportant object of the present inven tion is to provide an improved andnovel mechanism whereby such places as have not been properly ironed inclothing subject to other ironing processes may have any uni '20 ironedordamp spots finished rapidly with less effort on the part of theoperator and the obtaining of a greater production.

,Furthermore', in the use of hand irons it is not practicable to employsteam and such irons are generally heated by electricity or gas. The useof such irons on damp. spots I in clothing which has been subjected topressing ,ona steam ress frequently results in the burning of thematerial around the damp '30 spot on account of excessive heat appliedto such dry material. That is, if the iron is hot enough to dryjout thedamp spots it is fre I uently ihot' enough to burnthe dryjpart of thearticle. Qonsequentlythe old method of hand'iron'ing necessitatedmoistening a con- I siderablearea around this spot with correspondingloss oftime in this operationand the ironing of the large spotthus made,the middle portion being ironedfirst so that the 40 iron is tempereddown in such manner that whenit reaches the margins of the lar e dampspot it will not burn the dry parts. y reason of this thetime lost isconsiderably greaterthan if the damp spot itself could be ironed savescorching. v w v p A second important object of the invention is theprovision of an'improved ironing finisher wherein theiron is steamheated by withoutjit being necessary toenlarge it to steam of suitabletemperature so that at no time is the iron hot enough to scorch any part*of the articles being ironed while at the same time the iron is amplyhot to properly iron and dry the damp spot.

A third important object of the invention is the provision of means foroscillating a steam heated iron on can be moved from th a suitable buckwhich e iron for the purpose of placing the articles in position andtoward the iron for bringing the latter into contact with the articles,the moving of the buck bemg accomplished by a foot of the operator thusleaving the operators hands free tomanipulate the article be A fourthimportant ing ironed. object of the invention is to provide a machine ofthis'character wherein the oscillatio n of the iron will be accomplishedby an electric motor,'tl1ismotor having the circuit ther ethroughclosed, as the buck is moved into position for ironingthe articles andbroken as the buck moves away from such position, the iron oscillatingonly when actually necessary to accomplish the ironing operation.

accompanying drawings and specificallyclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings like characters of reference indicate likeseveral views, and

parts in the Figure 1 is'a side elevation ofthe improved machine.

rear certain'of the parts being shown in ele- I vation.

Figure 3 is an enlarged section on theline 33 of Figure 1. v Figure 4 isan enlar 4-4 of Figure 1.

ged section on the line Figure 5 is a section on the horizontal medianline of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6- 6 of Fi ure 1. v

lgure 7 is an enlar 77 of Figure '1.

ged section on the line 13 whereon is mounted the buck and thiss'temvhas formed therein a slotil4in which fits one end 15 of a lever pivotedbetween its ends on a pivot 16 extending from side to 'side of thehollow arm 12. The other end of this lever projectsintoth'e'hollow'standard "11 and" pivotally, connected to this end ofthe lever is the upper end of a link 17' which has its lower endconnected to the inner end of a lever 18 mounted intermediateits ends ona pivot l9'adjacent the forward face of the lower part of the standard11. The front end ofthe lever '18 is 'connected by a link 20. withtherear end of a pedal or foot-lever 21 pivotally supported betweenbrackets 22.

on the baselO. Thus by depressing the front end of the pedal 21 the link'17is pulled down and the lever in the arm12 tilted sothat the stem orshank 13 is lifted which thus lifts the buck supported thereon. [Thisbuck includes a hollow lower bodyportion wherein, istelescopicallyfitted an upper pad holding portion 24 around the lowerpart of which extends a spiral spring 25 so that the cover 26 of the pad27 may be gripped by this spring and the cover thus removably held inplace. The upper and lower parts are limited in movement away from eachother by bolts28 and the upper part is spring sup ported on springs 29so as to accommodate varying thicknesses of articles placed thereon.

' At the upper front side of the standard 11 is a bracket 30 whereon isa vertical pivot 31 on which. is pivoted an operating arm 32 whichcarries at its forward end an iron hav-. ing a; vertically elongatedbody 33 and a flat pressing face 34 above the buck. Suitably supportedfrom the standard and alined with the pivot 31 are forward swing joints35, there being one of these'joints above and one below the pivot.Connected to the upper joint is a steam inlet pipe 36 and an exhaustor'outlet pipe 37 is connected to the lower joint,the

pipes 36 and 37 leading to any suitable source of steam supply and wasterespectively. Furthermore, these swing joints are connected by pipes 38with the top and bottom of the hollow iron body 33. Thus the iron, canfreely oscillate on its pivot and yet be supplied with steam and thesteam exhausted therefrom so that the iron'can at all times be kept in aproper condition as regards heat.

Extending rearwardly from the upper portion of the standard 11 is abracket 39 whereon is mounted a motor 40 driving a reducing gear of theordlnary, worm wheel mounted a cam 43 carrying the peripheral ballbearing 44. The outer race of this'ball bearing has its outer facetransversely arcuate to swing between arcuate wear plates 45 fixedtothesides of ayoke 4 6-carried by the rear of an extension 47 of theoperating ariri 32,"the extension 47 extending inthe oppositedirectionito'said arm from the pivot 31. This motor is connected bysultable wires indicated diagrammatically at 48 with a standard type ofcircuit closeror switch I 49 having a pull steinor rod "50 for openingand cle s he-sw he r d being ralli to close the switch and establish acircuit through the, motor and pushed to breaksaid circuit. Spaced, onthe rod are steps 51 which are screwed on the rod so that-they may be jue o. e i r s t e f projecting from the link 17 through a suit; ableslotin the hollow standard llisanarm 52 whichhasa yoke end 53engagingthe rod between the stops." By this means whenever the buck is raisedthe. switch is closed and consequently the motor is set int operationand the iron oscillated; Converselywhen the buck is lowered the switchis opened and the scircuit through the; motor is-. broken so that theiron will cease its oscillation.

ln -using-the apparatus the article; to .be

ironed is placed on the buckin such. position that the spot requiringfinishing is presented for action by the iron. The operator thendepresses the front endlof the pedal 21 and 'as the buck inovesupwardlyunder fthisaction the motor starts and the iron'begins: to oscillateso,- that the iron is oscillating'a's the buck reaches its" operativeposition with the article in contact with the'iron. Afew 'scg ondsis'sufficient to completelyiron the spot unlessthesame is very largeinwhi'ch case the pedalis released, the article shifted ion the buck andthe pedal again depressed until the entire spot has been ironedQThcnthepedal is fully released whereupon the circuit through the motor. isbroken f and the oscillation of the 1 iron ceases; so" thafthe is OHSthat mlnor may device is ready for a second article, the

made in the form and construction .ofthe invention without departingfrom the material spirit thereof. It is not, therefore, deg

sired Ito confine. the invention to thefexact form herein shown'anddescribed, but it;is desired to include all such as properly come withinthe scope claimed. Q is claimed as new, is:

' 1. In an ironingfinisher, a frain'epabuck Having thus describedtheinventipii, what mounted on said frame for vertical movement into andout of pressing position, means for moving said buck, an iron, asupporting arm pivotally mounted on said 6 frame and connected to theiron to restrict movement thereof to an arcuate path in a plane at rightangles to the movement of the buck and in cooperation therewith, a motorhaving a shaft, a cam mounted on m said shaft, an extension on said arm,and a yoke on said extension straddling said cam a hollow bushing insaid yoke having an in- 7 ternal segmento-spherical surface, and a ballhearingion said cam having an outer race 15 provided with asegmento-spherical outer surface fitting said bushing. '2. In an ironingfinisher, a frame, a buck mounted on said frame for vertical movementinto and out of pressing position, means for moving said buck, an iron,a sup porting arm pivotally mounted on said frame and connected to theiron to restrict movement thereof to an arcuate path in a plane at rightangles to the movement of the buck 25 and in cooperation therewith, amotor having a shaft, a cam mounted onsaid shaft, an extension on saidarm, and a yoke on said extension straddling said cam. 1

3. In an ironing finisher, a frame, a buck 30 mounted on said frame forvertical move ment into and out of pressing position, a stem supportingsaid buck, a lever pivoted intermediate its ends on said frame andhaving one end engaging the stem to move the same, a link depending fromthe other end of said lever, a pedal operatively connected to the lowerend of the link whereby movement of the pedal moves the link and buck,an iron, a supporting arm pivotally mounted on said frame and connectedto the iron to restrict movement thereof to an arcuatepath in a plane atright angles to the movement of the buck and in cooperation therewith, amotor, means connecting the motor and supporting arm to oscillate thesame, a circuit for said motor, a circuit closer in said circuit, asliding rod for operating said circuit closer, spaced stops on said rod,and an arm projecting from said 'link'and having a yoke engaging the rodbetween said stops. In testimonywhereof I affix my signature r CECIL H.BOYULS.

